DIY flat stone animals

by Bonnie Pockley

Sometimes, often, I get sick of stuff. Kids stuff. Unused stuff. Junk stuff. I’m one for clearing out and creating clean spaces, cycling over or simply not buying into the excess where and when I can. Part of this for me means making the kids toys myself. It gets me involved in their play but also keeps my imagination and fine motor skill awake. One of the most successful and easily copied things that I’ve done for them of late has been these families of flat stone animals. Less a how-to and more a this-is-what-you’ll-need, here’s a guide to the best kind of materials you’ll want to get to DIY:

Utensils:

Flat stones gathered from a river-bed or rock pile (go scouting around your neighbourhood for these)

Poscas – thick white, fine pink, thick silver (for shadowing)

A grey lead pencil – HB, 2H or 2B (shadowing, inside of ears and detail around face)

Black fine liner (do not use on wet Posca paint)

Gold spray paint

A large matchbox

Ribbon

The best way to being this is to draw on the outline of the animal faces with white Posca and leave it to dry. Draw in the details with a black fine liner, mark in pink Posca for the softer areas of the face, highlight with silver around the forehead, ears and cheeks and use preferred colours to texture the stone on the body of the animals. Set aside. Spray paint a matchbox gold. Leave to dry. Place animals inside, tie with ribbon and surprise your little ones with a gift at the end of their beds.